Inconvenient People - Review

Written by a historian and shortlisted for the 2014 Wellcome Trust Book Prize, Inconvenient People shares for the first time the stories of twelve nonconformists who were incarcerated against their will in lunatic asylums, highlighting the history of changing lunacy laws in Britain from the 1840s until 1890.

Nineteenth century England was no friend to anyone who dared to be "different". As we learn in Sarah Wise's newest book, Inconvenient People: Lunacy, Liberty and the Mad-Doctors in Victorian England [Bodley Head/Random House, 2013; Guardian Bookshop; Amazon UK; Amazon US/kindle US], lunacy laws were often abused for financial gain. Written by a historian and shortlisted for the 2014 Wellcome Trust Book Prize, Inconvenient People shares for the first time the stories of twelve nonconformists who were incarcerated against their will in lunatic asylums. Their stories highlight the history of changing lunacy laws in Britain from the 1840s until 1890.

Th author carefully selects and details the stories of 12 people who were labeled "lunatics" and detained against their will in an "asylum". The women -- and more often, the men -- covered the gamut from the poorest to the upper echelons, although the middle- and upper-middle classes were most at risk, as Wise notes:

Although distrust of the mad-doctors was an oddly classless issue, anxiety about being sent to the 'living tomb' (a commonly used matephor for the asylum) was perhaps felt most intensely by those who had something more than their liberty to lose. Malicious lunacy certification was overwhelmingly a problem for those who had money or property (even if it was just a small estate or income) and for people whose behaviour was deemed to embarrass or to threaten the social standing of another, or others. (p. xviii)

By painstakingly documenting each individual's story, Wise reveals how existing lunacy laws were interpreted and used (well, abused, actually) at the time to control moneyed individuals who also happened to be nonconformists -- those with strange behavioural quirks, unconventional religious beliefs, who dared marry "beneath their station" (or refused to marry at all), or women who bore illegitimate children -- anyone who inconveniently stood in the way of a relative's financial ambitions. In short, lunacy laws were often exploited to satisfy personal greed.

In this lively book, we meet the shy but brilliant tea dealer, Edward Davies, who was victimised by his gold-digging control-freak of a mother, and the often sharp-tongued writer, Lady Rosina Bulwer Lytton, whose husband divorced her and took their children after his career ambitions destroyed their marriage, and talented amateur soprano Georgina Weldon, a tireless campaigner against English lunacy laws. We also read about the Alleged Lunatics' Friend Society, an advocacy group made up of former asylum patients and their supporters. Interestingly, we also get a sense for the public, who not only were strongly suspicious of the motivations of "mad-doctors" suring these turbulent times, but often intervened when so-called lunatics were kidnapped off the streets and forcibly detained by these doctors and their asylum attendants.

This quietly passionate masterwork is an extensive undertaking, comprising 496 pages, 111 of which cite a variety of informative source materials including memoirs, archives, local records and personal letters, which are referenced in four appendices, extensive picture credits, 30 pages of chapter notes and a 9-page bibliography that also cites websites, along with a 23-page index. Black-and-white photographs, paintings, maps and drawings ground this book in time and place. These images, combined with the book's revelations -- and even actual quotes from the victims -- made me wonder how these so-called "lunatics" could ever forgive their families or ever trust anyone again? How their victimisers could ever look themselves in the mirror?

Considering this long sordid history of malicious and capricious mental illness diagnoses, I am surprised there is such a strong social stigma associated with mental illness today. How and why did this change in social perceptions come about?

This might seem morbid reading, but Wise's research is rigorous, her writing is lucid and witty, and this book is engaging, although disturbing. A must-read for those who work in the mental health industry, I think most people will find it both eye-opening and provocative.

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Sarah Wise is a British historian, journalist and writer. Her debut, The Italian Boy: Murder and Grave Robbery in 1830s London, was shortlisted for the 2005 Samuel Johnson Prize and won the Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction. Her follow-up, The Blackest Streets: The Life and Death of a Victorian Slum (2008), was shortlisted for the Royal Society of Literature's Ondaatje Prize and was a Book of the Year in the Sunday Telegraph, The Economist and for BBC Radio 4's Saturday Review programme. Her third book, Inconvenient People, is included on the shortlist for the 2014 Wellcome Book Prize. She lives in central London.

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Disclaimer: GrrlScientist has no known connection to the book's author. Outside of receiving a free review copy of this book, no compensation was received by either GrrlScientist or the Guardian for this review. All images appear here by courtesy of the publisher.